Northside Hospital plans to launch a $30 million effort to expand and renovate some of its aging facilities -- including an extended recovery area for patients -- at its main campus in the Perimeter area later this year.
The health system will renovate its extended recovery unit, increasing the capacity from 24 beds to 32 beds, said Northside spokesman Russ Davis. The unit has had a number of uses over the years, such as behavioral health services, and needs to be reconfigured to best serve its new purpose, Davis said.
“It’s one of the final remaining areas of the hospital that has not been fully renovated,” he said.
The project will also include a renovation and expansion of the hospital’s kitchen and cafeteria. It will reconfigure roughly 30,000 square feet and add 23,000 square feet of new construction, including a new floor above the hospital’s emergency department, Davis said.
He added that the kitchen was originally built to support the 250 beds Northside first had when it opened in 1970. Today, the kitchen is the same size but supports more than 530 beds.
Though the economy is still in a slump, health systems across Georgia are investing tens of millions of dollars into new infrastructure to meet future demand, said Kevin Bloye, a spokesman for the Georgia Hospital Association.
Metro Atlanta’s population is still growing and getting older as baby boomers hit Medicare age, Bloye said. “The demand for services is going up and up and up,” he said.
Northside’s project is expected to take two years to complete, Davis said. Construction could start as early as late summer or fall if approved by the state.
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